Salesforce to acquire AI voice agent firm Tenyx, joining AI talent race

(Reuters) - Enterprise cloud firm Salesforce on Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire Tenyx, which develops artificial intelligence-powered voice agents, to advance its AI-driven solutions.

The acquisition, for which no deal value was disclosed and is expected to close in the third quarter, will see Tenyx's co-founders, CEO Itamar Arel and CTO Adam Earle, along with their team, join Salesforce.

Tenyx, a California-based startup founded in 2022, caters to clients across various industries, including e-commerce, healthcare, hospitality and travel, according to its website.

Last year, Salesforce, under pressure from activist investors, announced plans to double its share buybacks and shift away from acquiring more companies after disbanding its mergers and acquisitions committee.

The San Francisco, California-based company is now looking at acquisitions to re-accelerate its revenue growth.

The move echoes similar deals struck by tech giants Microsoft and Amazon this year, highlighting the increasing competition for AI tools and talent.

Microsoft paid $650 million in March to acquire talent from AI startup Inflection, while Amazon hired several co-founders and employees from Adept, another AI startup, in June.

Salesforce beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter revenue and profit last week, benefiting from higher spending on its enterprise cloud products.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)